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Sam Allardyce's team carved out a succession of clear openings in an entertaining first period in which they restricted Gordon Strachan's men to a crisp Paul Telfer volley which was comfortably saved and a neat flick by Augustin Delgado which rustled the side netting.

Having beaten Chelsea, Bolton endeavoured to play like them and they got fairly close as they knocked the ball about impressively to stretch their opponents to breaking point. All that was lacking at that stage was a goal and Wanderers should reproach themselves for allowing so much territorial advantage to go unrewarded.

Niemi was called into spectacular action in the first minute when Pedersen rose to meet a hanging cross from Nicky Hunt and the Finn made an excellent reaction save.

Niemi then had to move smartly to beat away a ferocious Jay Jay Okocha free kick coming after David Prutton's foul on Ivan Campo and Southampton escaped again when Stelios Giannokopoulos twice drove a loose ball straight at the prostrate Michael Svensson.

Kevin Davies, whose every touch was jeered by the visiting fans who once sang his praises, shot embarrassingly wide from Hunt's pass.

Strachan was not going to allow Bolton to have the same amount of freedom after the interval and, indeed, his team began to look sharper, Svensson almost breaking through with a looping header from Jason Dodd's corner. Kevin Poole, given a rare taste of first-team action as Jussi Jaaskelainen's deputy, did well to push the ball away from under the crossbar.

Poole's next piece of work was less impressive, the goalkeeper hacking a clearance straight at Delgado and Southampton consequently applied heavy pressure before Brett Ormerod, leading the line in the absence of the injured James Beattie, squandered his team's best chance by driving wildly over.

Those two scares prompted Bolton into more positive action and Pedersen should have done better with a shot on the run after breaking purposefully into the danger area.

Full-back Hunt showed how it should be done with a tremendous volley which Niemi brilliantly saved, the goalkeeper matching that with a parry from Okocha's piledriver.

Allardyce sent on Mario Jardel, the Brazilian striker whose only goals in English football have come in this competition, and he almost scored from Giannakopoulos's chipped cross.

Jardel, who was denied by a last-gasp aerial challenge by Svensson, was then thwarted by another Niemi save.

The crucial breakthrough came after 114 minutes when substitutes Youri Djorkaeff and Anthony Barness combined for Pedersen to stick out a boot and direct the ball past the helpless Niemi.

Even then the drama was not over. Almost immediately Southampton went close to equalising when a long-range effort by Telfer was tipped on to the bar by Poole.